Minissha Lamba on why she welcomes cynicism about her acting skills: I love it because you come in with zero expectations

The actor, who has just made her theatre debut, on why she welcomes cynicism about her acting skills, and why the stage is just the thing for her.

When you are unsuccessful in life and are sitting at home, and not working, everyone has the most amazing pearls of wisdom and one-sentence solutions to offer. I spent three years listening to all that. Initially, I used to give explanations but later I just used to say ‘yes’ and the conversation would be over within minutes,” says Minissha Lamba when Mirror met her at a café in a western suburb on Thursday.

Lamba was introduced to Bollywood audiences in Shoojit Sircar’s Yahaan in 2005. The actor’s last movie as a protagonist was Hum Tum Shabana in 2011. Though she did a few more Hindi movies after that and also starred in two Punjabi films, they were forgettable and success in Bollywood eluded her. Her frankness and outspokenness makes it evident that she is quite aware that her career did not take off the way it should have.

However, this year is proving to be a good one for her. Last month, she made her theatre debut with AGP World’s Mirror Mirror in Delhi. “The play opened at Kamani Auditorium on September 8. We started rehearsing for it almost 45 days before the premiere date,” says the Miranda House alum. “Theatre is something I always wanted to do. I dived into this because I met Ashvin Gidwani [founder of AGP World] very randomly at a common friend’s wedding. We struck up a conversation, where he asked if I’d be interested in doing theatre. I said yes,” she says.

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The play directed by Saif Hyder Hasan, is a solo-act about sibling rivalry, in which the petite actress plays as many as 13 characters. Learning how to act on stage, as opposed to being in front of a camera, wasn’t easy. From voice training to physical exercises to acting workshops, Lamba had to do it all. “I hadn’t worked for a very long time. So — getting my body and mind back into acting — I had to understand and go through that process for theatre. But I really enjoyed it,” she says.

She was also mentally prepared to deal with the scepticism surrounding her theatre debut. “But that’s fair. I have not done any substantial role in the past couple of years which would make people excited. I’m sure a lot of people said ‘They were so desperate for a Bollywood name that kisiko bhi le liya’. This kind of cynicism is great for me. I love it because you come in with zero expectations. So even if I do an okay job, you’ll compliment me,” she says matter-of-factly. Apart from theatre, the actress is currently acting in the daily soap Internet Wala Love as the owner of a radio station who is boss to two main characters.

Some might think of her stage debut as a gamble but one facet of Lamba’s personality that not many know about is that she’s an avid poker player. She has been signed up as a professional player by one of India’s largest poker websites. Lamba has even participated in the Indian Poker Championship and the WPT 500 Aria Poker Tournament in Las Vegas. “It again happened randomly, as things seem to happen in my life. A couple of friends came down from abroad and taught us the game. I’m not a card player at all. But they said it’s a sport abroad and this is how they do it. The game is mentally simulating,” she says.

While her professional life is fair game, Lamba is extremely guarded about her personal life. She is married to city restaurateur Ryan Tham, but when his name is brought up, she makes it clear that her personal life is off limits. “It’s a very private family. And you need to respect that,” she says.

Having got a taste of theatre, the actress, who is in her early 30s, now sees it as her future. “We are looking at taking Mirror Mirror to the world, hopefully,” she says. “Theatre is something that I’m going to do for the rest of my life. I have realised that whenever I have time, I will be doing theatre. It’s the best time as an actor to be working right now.”